Do you really care about the "Studio" or "Professional" words on Headphones?

Yes, we've seen countless headphones named with "Studio" or "Professional" or "Monitoring". Any of those posh words to describe quite priced headphones

But how many of you really use those "studio/professional/monitoring" cans for ... (guess what) studio/professional/monitoring?

I'm a hi fi enthusiast and I do not own a recording studio. I'm not an engineer but I do have pretty good ears. So my headphones use is 100% home listening. Nothing to do with monitoring or whatever other use in professional studios

Moreover, as far I know, engineers barely use headphones. They mostly use studio monitors (those small speakers, you know).

Yes, musicians use headphones but I don't think the majority of them do.

I dare to say not even 50% of those "studio/professional/monitoring" headphones are actually used in studios!

As long as the ear cups are labeled "Left" and "Right" in some understandable way, the rest is decoration. It makes some people feel better, it makes some people annoyed, but for the most part it's all ignorable.

In general, the higher-end you go, the less verbiage gets stamped on the product. There are exceptions (the HD800, for some reason, has its tech specs printed on the cups), but your standard high-end preamp is going to have, at most, the manufacturer's name, a model number, and simple one-word labels on each knob. Sometimes not even that much.

I use my studio cans for monitoring and reference listening, what is so strange about this?

I am a video editor and I use my Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro as part of my home workstation. At work I used to use Sony MDR-7506 and Sennheiser HD280 Pro for monitoring purposes. I freelance now and don't need a closed can. Dedicated studio cans really are great in the studio, no surprise there! It would be really silly for anyone to use hi-fi cans in the studio since they are usually not accurate enough and color the sound in significant ways.

EDIT: to answer the OP:

Indeed, speakers are used for monitoring in many cases but headphones have just as many applications. For one, you need to use headphones while actually recording music, the microphone could pick up speakers. Moreover, headphones are used A LOT in film/TV/radio. In fact, I'd say that headphone use in this industry far exceeds speaker use. Finally, headphones are often used for reference listening (ie. to find out what a recording will sound like on headphones). Headphones are extremely important and used very commonly.

I like it when headphones are referred to reference headphones, because it generally implies that they would be good in critical listening studio applications, as reference. However, this term is over used on many different cans.

I never pay attention to that. In fact most of the time I avoid it because they are trying to sell the headphone via description instead of reputation. I first look at the FR graphs and go from there. If I can listen to them for hours before settling down with my decision I really do not care what anyone writes on it within reason. I could not tell you what the actual description of the headphones I own originally would have been.

I suppose if I did more studio work and determined that the word studio on a pair of headphones generally meant that I could regularly rely upon it I would probably use note the wording more.

I am still amazed, however, at how many of us think more expensive is better. The first time I heard a pair of Koss Porta Pros was just amazing. If you have not done so already go check a pair out.

I've spent some time in a studio and never really picked up the phones based on what was written on them. I guess the risk is that the higher the price, the more the manufacturer tries to justify it with meaningless waffling and marketing.

The same holds true in most cases when audiophiles explain what cans sound like. I mean, if someone explained what a pastry tasted like in the same manner, we could call the men in white coats and be perfectly justified. Sometimes I need a dictionary just to read some of the ramblings I come across. Maybe this means I'm not a true audiophile?

I use my studio cans for monitoring and reference listening, what is so strange about this?

I am a video editor and I use my Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro as part of my home workstation. At work I used to use Sony MDR-7506 and Sennheiser HD280 Pro for monitoring purposes. I freelance now and don't need a closed can. Dedicated studio cans really are great in the studio, no surprise there! It would be really silly for anyone to use hi-fi cans in the studio since they are usually not accurate enough and color the sound in significant ways.

EDIT: to answer the OP:

Indeed, speakers are used for monitoring in many cases but headphones have just as many applications. For one, you need to use headphones while actually recording music, the microphone could pick up speakers. Moreover, headphones are used A LOT in film/TV/radio. In fact, I'd say that headphone use in this industry far exceeds speaker use. Finally, headphones are often used for reference listening (ie. to find out what a recording will sound like on headphones). Headphones are extremely important and used very commonly.

With all due respect, yes a number of video editors use cans for sound (and poor speakers in poor acoustics), that is one of the main reasons why they produce lower quality audio results than an experienced dubbing engineer in a well designed and calibrated mix room, where all mixing and dubbing is done through speakers. BTW, cans should never be used for referencing unless you are creating a product primarily designed to be listened to with cans.

To the OP: Bare in mind that a studio today is not quite what it once was. These days, anyone with a sound card, a mic and a computer in their bedroom can call themselves a "studio" and if they've charged their mates for editing and burning a CD they can also call themselves "professional". So using the title of "Studio" or "Professional" does not necessarily mean very much, beyond marketing. Jupitreas is correct that cans are used for several purposes in professional use. Recording studios always had a few pairs of Beyer DT100s around. DT100s had truly dreadful bass response, which made them ideal for providing a musician with a cue mix during recording, as there was very little bass to spill back into the microphones. Apart from a few specialist applications like this, you are right when you say that headphones are not used much in studios.

Yes, when I was thinking about "Studios" what comes to mind is all those acoustically-proofed rooms when musicians and other artists compose, play and listen to their material, like in the now old days

It's true, nowadays a "studio" can be a good soundcard, a good laptop with lot of storage and good edit programs and that's it!

Yes, when I was thinking about "Studios" what comes to mind is all those acoustically-proofed rooms when musicians and other artists compose, play and listen to their material, like in the now old days

It's true, nowadays a "studio" can be a good soundcard, a good laptop with lot of storage and good edit programs and that's it!

There are still quite a few of those "proper" studios about but there are a lot of bedroom and home studios which market themselves as "Professional Studios". It's a shame the misuse of "studio" these days when marketing cans, speakers, etc. There was a time when that word gave you some useful starting information but not really any more.